Monday, November 29, 2010

Moving right along

Unlike most weeks at our ugly little bungalow on Pecan, work seems to have picked up around here. I guess there's nothing like a big turkey dinner to kick us into high gear. While I've been waiting for the moment when random men enter my home and take it over with their sledge hammers and pneumatic nailers for what seems like months now, I must admit that I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and unprepared for the chaos that we now live in. Hello light at the end of the tunnel, shine a little brighter please because I CAN'T SEE YOU!!

I'm not the only one who is feeling more than a bit displaced.

Here's what's been happening since last weekend.

1. Gustavo our trim guy came and went and we now have half finished (it's not painted yet) wainscoting on our dining room and bathroom walls. All of our windows have been framed out with beaded stop and some other random pesky projects involving trim have been completed.


2. With no company knocking on our door, we whipped up a Thanksgiving dinner that could easily feed a family of 10. Now we eat leftovers morning, noon and night.

3. While Ben has seemed to get things a little more under control at work and therefore is able to spend more time at home, I on the other hand have been punching in and out a whole lot more than before. (Oh and if I didn't mention it already, I'm currently working a seasonal job at Pottery Barn.....more on that later).

4. 3 Mexican "sheetrockeros" (our Mexican painter's word for sheetrockers) came out to put a new ceiling in our living room (the old one was a nasty textured plaster mess). In a matter of minutes they found that it wasn't possible to just put the sheetrock up over the existing plaster so they had to tear the whole ceiling out. Unfortunately they didn't properly cover our recently refinished hardwood floors and now they are severely damaged in that room. The good news is that the painter (who hired the sheetrockers) is taking responsibility for it.......supposedly.


5. Our 2nd flakey Colombian electrician flaked on us and isn't able to do the work we need him to do in the time frame that the sheetrockers and painter need him to do it, so in turn this halted the work of the sheetrockers. They didn't like that they couldn't finish the job when they wanted to and apparently didn't feel like doing the other part of the work that they painter hired them to do, so they walked out this morning. I'm biting my tongue from making some comments that I may later regret, but let's just leave it at they sure don't have the work ethic of a Guatemalan.

6. Ben spent the better part of Sunday trying to get as much of the electrical work done as he could so that they sheetrockers would be able to finish their job. He got a lot done, but now it feels like his day could have been better spent.


7. While Ben was finishing up his electrical projects last night, Mia and I were trying to stay warm by cleaning and baking. Nothing goes better together than dust and chocolate chip cookies. The mudroom where Ben was working isn't insulated yet and it's connected to the kitchen by a door that was hanging wide open, so the house was absolutely freezing. Turns out it worked. Baking does help keep you warm. And the best part of it all was that while I was baking a got a Skype call from Teale in Colorado who just gave birth to baby Ayla a few days ago, so I got to meet the baby and chat with my much missed friend. (Big smile.)


8. It's not even noon yet today and already I have spent several hours cleaning up the mess that the sheetrockers left behind. Just one room and the shop vac was filled up with dust and debris. And since they pretty much ruined my mop over the weekend doing their version of clean up, I had a difficult time getting the damaged floors to a clean enough point in which the damage is visible for the repair guy to see. At least now I have good reason to buy the Bona mop I've been hearing such great things about.....but probably after all the mess is done.

9. So now we're waiting on baited breath for some other dudes that the painter hired (of course) to show up and work at fixing the cracks in the walls which need to also be done before the painter can get to work. Are you catching a theme here? This painter is anxious to get to work.
And if these new guys don't show, we're bailing out of this runaway train that our painter/conductor is driving and looking elsewhere.

10. And if you were wondering why all of our workers are immigrants, it's because we have a soft spot in our hearts for people who are trying to work hard to make a better living. Most of our past experiences have shown us that they really want to work, they really need to work, and usually do a good job and are very appreciative. While we are more than slightly annoyed at the happenings of the past few days, we still do believe that the sheetrock guys wanted to work and wanted to do a good job, but also were getting taken for a bit of a ride by the infamous painter and had to stand up for themselves. We really can't blame them for that.

With luck, hopefully I'll be back later this week with better news. Until then, I'm going to remain focused on choosing the paint shades, a task that has already proven to not be easy for this very type A, perfectionistic, terrible decision maker!

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